New Things
by marcelb
Summary: Continuation of Duped. This is the other half of two parallel running stories. This story has John dealing with a new problem.
1. Blowing Off Steam

**Title:** New things part 1: Blowing Off Steam  
**Author:** Marcel Bestebroer  
**Timeline:** Right after 'Duped', AU after Promises in the Farscape universe as we know it.  
**Archiving:** Name the place.  
**Disclaimer:** I own the plot idea, but that's basically it.

**Notes:** This trilogy is part of the Duped universe, starting directly after the original story and runs parallel to the trilogy _Old Things_. As a consequence the first part of both trilogies will have uncanning similarities in dialogue and scenes, though written from opposing points of view (so as not to be completely boring). The same holds true for the last part of both trilogies, though there the number of similar scenes and dialogues is limited to a minimum.

Like the other trilogy, this one was beta'd by Kaz, though mistakes may linger as I made some changes here and there.

* * *

John slowly emerged from sleep, his hand searching for the woman that should be lying right beside him. Instead, his hand only found empty space and for a moment he feared he had dreamt the whole escape up until he realized the spot was still warm. He cracked one eye open to scan his quarters. 

All of her clothing was still there, scattered all over the floor. Initially that had John believe she might be taking a shower, until he noticed that his shorts and shirt were not among the pieces of clothing on the floor. She probably had put those on but what for? Had Pilot commed her with a problem?

Luckily John didn't have to ponder the question long as Aeryn chose that moment to enter his quarters, carrying a tray of breakfast. At least it explained her absence, but John wasn't really interested in breakfast. He turned around to lie on his side, a smile forming. How could a woman look so desirable in men's clothing? Or maybe it was just her, regardless of clothing. "Hey."

Aeryn smiled back at him. "Hey."

John looked at the tray before looking back up to her. "I see you got me some breakfast." John's arms and sides where still a bit sore from the connection to the computer and he rolled to lie on his back. His eyes never left the beautiful woman out of his sight as he watched her walking gracefully to his bed.

"Mmm-hmm, I thought you might be hungry."

John saw her setting the tray down beside the bed momentarily, getting ready to join him in bed again. He realized that would make him the only one naked and that just didn't seem fair. Besides, he would get to watch her taking of his clothes, a much better treat than breakfast in bed, so he shook his head. "Uh-huh, you're not gettin' in here like that."

John observed her looking down, checking her appearance, before she looked back at him questioningly. Better give her a hint. "You're overdressed." The questioning gaze disappeared to make room for one of understanding, a distinct twinkle in her eyes. John could have sworn she was fighting down the urge to laugh before the look on her face changed again.

"John, we are just going to eat, take a shower and get to work."

John had no intention of letting her get off that easy. "Well, you can't take a shower with your, sorry, _my_ clothes on anyway, so you might as well take 'em of now." Apparently she agreed with this logic, because after just a brief consideration she proceeded to take the shirt of.

The moment he saw her breast appear as she moved the shirt up to pull it over her head he sucked in a breath. Damn, that was one beautiful woman standing there. Her breasts where just asking to be touched, caressed and kissed. Before the shirt fell on the ground, John's hand had already cupped one of her breasts. He changed his position so his mouth could take over, allowing his hands to slide down her body and ultimately dispose her off his shorts, while his mouth roamed over both her breasts. John felt Aeryn's hands gripping his head, pulling it tighter against her breasts. Now that's what he called a clear message!

"John, we don't have time for this."

Huh? Mixed signals? Her hands were still pulling his head against her breasts and one hand even started to move along his back. Nope, her mouth could not be trusted in this case. Besides, they kind of deserved some quality time, didn't they? It seemed she felt the exact same way as she didn't object to being pulled on the bed.

* * *

D'Argo awoke to the sound of this door cycling open, Chiana waiting to get in and carrying a tray of food. She seemed very anxious and troubled about something and he noticed her attempt at hiding it. 

"Hey, brought you some food." D'Argo observed her graceful approach to the bed and her equally graceful climbing on to it. "Thought you might be hungry after last night's exercise."

It was clear she had no intention of letting him know what was going on and D'Argo contemplated the wisdom of asking her. "Thanks, I am hungry." She moved closer to him and placed the tray on her lap.

First meal went without any form of talking while D'Argo continued to weigh the pros and cons of asking her about what was bothering her. Finally he reached a decision. "Chiana, what was bothering you when you came in?"

D'Argo observed her closely, gauging her reaction, hoping he could steer away from a potential break-up if she didn't like him asking about it. For now, she just seemed surprised...

"Nothing's bothering me. What makes you think something's bothering me?"

...And trying to hide there was something wrong. Still, she hadn't been angry, so he deemed it would be safe to continue the discussion. "When you came in you appeared to be …not exactly here with me. You also seem a bit anxious and you were thinking again just now." She seemed to appreciate his concern and also accept the fact that she could no longer pretend that nothing was wrong.

"D'Argo, I... I may have to leave Moya for a while. Just to-to take care of so-some personal problems. Yeah, personal problems!"

Stammering and confirming her own explanations; tell tale signs of her anxiety growing. It became obvious to D'Argo that Chiana would be dealing with a heavy burden. "I could go with you." That might have given her the impression he didn't trust her. "For support."

She seemed a little reluctant to let him come along. "No, D'Argo, this is something you shouldn't be around for. I need to do this without you."

More than a little reluctant to let him come along. D'Argo sighed. Perhaps a change in tactics could help him. "Chiana, I do not like having you alone of Moya. I know you can take care of yourself, but you could get into trouble and could use some backup." There, simple plan; let her know you trust her and that she can take care of herself, but point out the benefits of letting him come along. D'Argo could almost smell the victory as Chiana smiled and caressed his face.

"D'Argo, I won't be handling this alone. I will team up with someone I know. We both need to deal with this... problem while we have the opportunity."

Not entirely what he had hoped for. But she wouldn't team up with that someone until she arrived there. "How long will you be traveling?"

"About two solar days, a little less."

"Two solar days?" She must be joking! "You couldn't possibly expect me to let you travel on a transport pod for two solar days with no way to defend it!" She would see reason, he was sure of it. Even she knew how dumb it would be for her to travel alone for that long in a ship that had no defenses.

"I never said I would take a transport pod. I'm going to ask Aeryn to take me in her Prowler."

Good, she did understand the dangers of traveling alone. Unfortunately she had chosen Aeryn over him and he couldn't understand why. "Why can't I come with you in Lo'La, but Aeryn can in her Prowler?"

"Because you would just interfere with this thing I have to do. Aeryn might want to, but once I explain things to her, she'll let me do this."

That made him snort. Aeryn not interfering was highly unlikely. He had witnessed how Aeryn and Chiana had grown closer, especially during the whole ordeal with the bioloid John. She would protect Chiana, like she would do for John. Hmm. "You expect Aeryn to leave John?" He immediately noticed Chiana was getting tired of this discussion and he realized he had already lost.

"Look, D'Argo, you can argue all you want, but I'm going to do this without you. If I need to I will take a transport pod. It would only take me half a solar day longer."

"Alright, Chiana, I will stay here. When will you leave?"

"Right after I talked things through with Aeryn. I think we'll have some time of our own though."

D'Argo was sure they would have some time left. Both John and Aeryn would take advantage of whatever time they would get to be together. Probably Scorpius and Sikozu as well. The old witch and his lowness should already be on their way to the map seller. The additional time did provide some advantages for Chiana and him as well.

* * *

Trying desperately to slow down his breathing John reveled in the feel of Aeryn leaning against him under the shower. This was a whole new experience for John. He had made love to her once, many cycles ago on the fake Earth, and that was all about learning what she liked. Last night and this morning had been completely different, with a more open and trusting Aeryn, an Aeryn who was able to let him know what she liked or wanted. Damn, she had even taken the lead earlier this morning and she had definitely foreknowledge of his likes. 

John wondered if he had his twin to thank for that. From the conversations he overheard between Stark and Rygel, the two of them had been frelling like bunnies on Talyn, so it was very likely that's where she had learned.

In a far corner of his mind he wondered if she had compared his twin and him but he already knew she probably hadn't. She had told him last night before their love making that she no longer made a distinction between the other guy and him.

He had his breathing back under control again but wasn't planning on letting the moment pass so easily and kept his mouth shut, enjoying the quiet time of having her standing against him.

"John, we really should get dressed and go to command. There are still things we need to discuss with the others."

He sighed. Why did she have to be so practical at a time like this? Of course, she did have a point. He was pretty sure it was almost time for second meal and they hadn't even made an appearance yet. They did make an appointment with Miss Britannica. "Yeah, I know. We still have to see how to get rid of Harvey."

He walked out of the refreshing chamber to get a towel, loving the fact that Aeryn's breath hitched when he bend over to grab two towels. He turned around and held one of the towels out to her. She stepped towards him and accepted it.

While toweling, his mind wandered back to her explanation about the fetus. He wondered how the stasis should be released but wasn't sure if she had even thought about having a baby. Still, they had to talk about it sometime. "Aer, can I ask you something?"

She looked back up at him, slightly startled. "Sure."

"How..." Fuck, how do you ask something like that if you're afraid she doesn't want to talk about it? "Where would you have to go to... you know, get junior growing?" She seemed to debate the question internally but John couldn't figure out why. It seemed a simple question, no consequences in answering this truthfully.

"The only ones that would be able to release a stasis are Peacekeeper med techs."

Peacekeeper med techs? The kind of med techs you can only find on a Command Carrier? "So, we would have to pay a visit to the good doctor of a Command Carrier?"

She nodded.

Well, isn't that just fabulous? If they wanted to have a baby they would have to go ask the Peacekeepers if they could pretty please release the stasis. John shook his head mentally. 'One problem at a time, Johnny boy' he told himself. "Are you..." No, better not ask if she is going to. "Would you like the stasis to be released?" He hoped she would want to, but he knew she wasn't prepared to become a mother, still needing much to learn on the subject of child birth and raising children.

"I do."

She did? He realized his face lit up just hearing her say that. Maybe they should look into it later, after Sputnik had performed her impression of the Exorcist. "Then maybe we should see what we can do about that after we've dealt with Harv." He took a small step towards her and gave her gentle kiss. "Let's get dressed and go see how the kids are doin'."

John proceeded to put on his clothes and was surprised by a question from Aeryn. "John, what do we say to the others when we go away to release the stasis?"

He shrugged. "Just that you got a bun in the oven and we need a tech to make the oven burn I s'pose." He heard her sigh and noticed the exasperated look on her face. "We tell 'em you have a child in stasis and we're going to get a med tech to release the stasis so the baby can grow."

John noticed Aeryn seemed reluctant to inform the others about her being preggers. "Unless you don't want them to know." But he should let her know that at one point it would become obvious anyway. "Of course once the stasis is released, they'll find out soon afterwards."

She seemed to accept that. "You're probably right."

John strapped on Winona and heard Aeryn strap on her pulse pistol at the same moment. He looked at her, grinning. "Ready, Sundance?"

She nodded and led the way to Command.

* * *

John and Aeryn were on their way to Command, walking close together, their arms or hands regularly brushing each other. Rounding a corner, John caught a glimpse of Chiana and D'Argo entering Command, followed microts later by the sound of Chiana's voice. "Told you we'd still have time." By that time they reached the door to Command. 

"Not much, Pip." John smiled as Chiana turned around and made her way towards him.

She hugged him tight, accompanied by her usual greeting. "Hey, old man."

"Mornin' Pip" He kissed the top of her head. "Do I need to ask what you were planning to do with the extra time you thought you had?"

Chiana grinned. "Nah, you know me; just wanting to have some more fun."

John smiled and looked to D'Argo, knowing full well the Luxan would have been part of that fun. "Yeah, that's what I thought. But sometimes we have to do something serious." He noticed that beside the four of them, nobody was there. "Speaking of which, I though we had made an appointment for me with the Exorcist?" He looked at D'Argo. "Have you seen Sputnik?"

"No, Chiana and I came to Command directly from my quarters." D'Argo palmed his comms. "Sikozu, could you meet us in Command?"

"I will be there in half an arn. I have almost finished my survey of the neural interface."

"Alright, join us in Command when you have finished."

Well, at least she had made a head start with the attempt to get rid of Harvey. John wondered what to do in the mean time. Half an arn was hardly enough time for some maintenance.

"Aeryn, could I talk to you in private?"

That was an unusual request from Chiana. Usually she talked about anything with anyone, definitely not a person to keep things secret. John did notice D'Argo's change in demeanor. The big guy knew something about this.

"We could go to my quarters?"

Chiana nodded. "That would be alright."

John watched Aeryn and Chiana leaving Command and turned to D'Argo as soon as the two disappeared from sight. "Any idea what Pip wants from Aeryn?"

D'Argo sighed. He couldn't and wouldn't keep this from John. "Chiana has some problem she needs to deal with, away from Moya. She does not want me to go with her, but she does want Aeryn to go with her."

"You know what I think? I think we all should go. These past three cycles and change we have always stuck together and helped each other. This is not the time to break that bond."

D'Argo nodded. "I agree, John, but Chiana was very clear on this. She does not want me to come with her. Apparently she is afraid I would intervene or try to stop her from whatever she is going to do. She claims Aeryn is the only one who would not intervene."

"She didn't tell you what kind of problem she has to deal with?"

"No, just some personal problem." D'Argo shook his head. "I do not think Aeryn will go with her though. She wouldn't want to leave you to deal with the dren of the neural clone by yourself."

John sighed. "I dunno, D. Pip and Aer seem to have become real close, almost like sisters. I don't think Aeryn would want anything to happen to Chi either and if she thinks Pip will be in more danger than me, she may very well leave. Besides, it's not like I'm all alone; I still got you guys to look after me."

"Perhaps you're right." D'Argo slapped his friend on the shoulder. "I believe it is better to just wait and hear what Aeryn has decided, instead of thinking about all kinds of danger they or we may encounter if separated."

John gave a short laugh. "I doubt it will matter if we all stay together or not. Trouble and danger will always find us. But, yeah, you're right. No sense in worrying about something that may not happen. So, where we're going?"

"Tormented Space. Neither Peacekeepers nor Scarrans dare travel that region of space, providing us some kind of safety."

John looked doubtful to his larger friend. "Yeah, I would associate 'tormented' with safety too. Wha' do we know 'bout that region? Personally, I'm very interested in the reason for calling it 'Tormented Space'."

"Very little is known of that region of space. Of the ships that dared travel there, rarely any have returned and the area is filled with anomalies."

That attracted John's attention. "Anomalies? Like wormholes?"

D'Argo shrugged. "Possibly, but most are just gravity wells."

"Uh-huh. And we know where those are? Do we have maps? I'm not looking forward in getting trapped in a gravity well."

"Rygel and Noranti are acquiring some maps at the edge of Tormented Space. They should return by the end of the day."

"Why the hell did you send those two?"

"We know Rygel is very good at bartering and Noranti claimed to have good negotiation skills as well. Both agreed we need to traverse Tormented Space and for that we need good, reliable maps."

John had to agree that in this case the little guy would do his best for the crew, since wouldn't want to get in trouble anymore than the rest of them. "Yeah, you're probably right. Listen D, I wanna check on Pilot, see how he and Moya are doing. Haven't talked to him in a long time."

"Alright John. Sikozu should be here in a quarter arn though."

"Don't worry, I'll be here." John waved goodbye to D'Argo and left Command.

D'Argo shook his head. He hadn't missed the fact that John was having a tough time dealing with the neural clone. He really hoped Sikozu would be able to remove the clone from his friend's mind.

* * *

John walked into Pilot's Den. "Pilote. Como estas, Hombre?"

"Commander, Moya is pleased you have returned, as am I."

John climbed on the console and patted the big creature's carapace. "Tell her I'm glad to be back too, Pilot. How are you and Moya doing? I understand that with Scorpius' meddling and the damage to the starburst chamber, you guys have had a real rough time."

Pilot's claws kept on moving over the console, continuously monitoring and regulating the Leviathan's many functions. "Indeed Commander, but from what we learned you were not in a better situation. And I understand you are still suffering from the neural clone as well."

John sighed. He really wanted to talk with Pilot and Moya, but this was one subject he'd rather not talk about at all. Ever. "Yeah, Harv, is still trying to coax me in returning to Scorpy. He's convinced Scorpy didn't die and is probably heeling as we speak."

He turned his head to gaze at the floor, trying to find another subject to talk about. "So, you and Moya okay with our little excursion to Tormented Space?"

"Certainly Commander. Both Moya and I are aware of the hazards Tormented Space harbor, but staying in the Uncharted Territories is much more dangerous at present. We have sensed increased activities from Scarran vessels in the area and the Peacekeepers will most certainly want to capture you now."

John wanted to respond but was interrupted by the comms. "John, Sikozu is at Command now. I suggest you return as well."

"On my way, D." He deactivated his comms and jumped of the console. "I'm sorry, Pilot. I'm sorry for causing all these problems and forcing you and Moya to go to a place you don't really wanna go."

Pilot extended one of his claws and laid it on the human's shoulder. "Moya and I do not blame you for anything, Commander. You have done nothing wrong."

John sighed before making his way out of the Den. "Thanks Pilot."

* * *

"Shut up, Harv. I'm not goin'." On his way back to Command the neural clone had seen fit to up his protesting. John didn't want to risk anyone overhearing the struggle and had intended to just ignore him, but the clone was very persistent and increasingly more annoying, so much even that John had seen fit to voice his complaint, albeit in a muttered form.

He had shoved the neural clone in the dumpster on several occasions, but Harvey always got out pretty quick after John returned to reality. He hoped Sputnik had found a way to eliminate the annoying clone once and for all. Getting closer to Command he could hear Aeryn say something, but he was to far away to hear the exact words.

Getting closer, he heard D'Argo's voice. "...let him know Sikozu is ready. He should be here soon." At least it was clear what Aeryn had said, or rather asked.

"I'm here." As he entered Command, his gaze immediately went towards Aeryn, with the rest of his body following as he walked towards her to wrap his arm around her waist. As she leaned into his embrace, the neural clone seemed to fade away automatically.

John turned his gaze toward the Kalish, who still had her attention firmly fixed on RoboScorp. "So, Sputnik, you got everything we need?"

"The device has been altered to link to your mind, but I can not guarantee I will be strong enough to expel the neural clone." Sikozu had alternated her gaze between him and Aeryn during the explanation, from which John concluded that she intended to have Aeryn use the device. Well, that wasn't going to happen; he would not expose her to the neural clone.

"Could I use the device to link with John?" John couldn't help the hitch in his breathing. She actually wanted to do this? Didn't she understand the danger she could be in?

He noticed Sikozu nodded in response to Aeryn's question. "It is probably better if it would be you. Your bond with Crichton is much stronger than anyone of us."

John knew she was right, but Harvey had tried to kill Aeryn once and John was certain he would try again if he ever got the chance. Better torpedo that idea quickly. "Wait, wait. I'm not going to let Aeryn jeopardize her life."

Aeryn had turned around in his embrace and looked at him. "John, what's wrong? Don't you want this?"

It was obvious she wanted to get involved in this. She probably hadn't thought about things at all. John had to remind her she had to think of the baby as well. He turned his attention to the rest of the crew. "Sorry guys, but I'd like to have a word with Aeryn in private, if you don't mind." Not really waiting for a reply, and knowing they wouldn't mind anyway, he turned around and pulled Aeryn with him.

They hadn't even gone halfway through the corridor before she halted their progress. "John, why are you resisting this? Are you uncomfortable with me invading your mind?"

Huh? Why would she think that? "God, no Aeryn, you can come into my mind any time, just as long as Harvey's not there."

She seemed to contemplate that. "John, Harvey will not be able to harm me in any way."

How could she say that? Anything could happen to her. They didn't even know how safe the device is! "We don't know that for certain!" Oops, that angered her a little, although John couldn't imagine why.

"No, we don't, because you haven't allowed Sikozu to explain the device to us. We don't even know how we are supposed to remove the clone because you had to interrupt her."

Perhaps now would be a good time to remind her of her pregnancy...

"No, John, this is not about the baby, or me. This is about releasing you from that frelling clone and if Sikozu says I'm the best choice to help you, I will do whatever she says I need to do."

...or not. John couldn't help the sigh escaping him. "Alright, if Sikozu can assure us the clone won't be able to harm you or defect to your head, you can come trot around my brain." John watched as Aeryn seemed to zone out, worrying him a little. Was this a side effect of her being in the virtual room? "Aer, you OK?"

"Yes John, I'm fine. I was thinking about being linked to your mind. Perhaps you could show me things from your past after we have removed the clone."

Hmm, that was a benefit he hadn't considered before. But it would be a great way to bond. "Now, that could be fun. I think it's time we head back to Sputnik."

* * *

"Alright Sputnik, tell us more 'bout the device and what Aer should do to get rid of the clone."

"The device is created as a one-way link between a biological subject and a computer core. I only adapted the computer output to provide another neural link, leaving the security implementations intact. Neural bleed back from your mind to mine or Aeryn's is impossible."

John realized Aeryn would point out to him she had been right. He wasn't disappointed.

"You see, John? It is safe."

"Yeah, well, you can never be to sure."

* * *

"Aer, you absolutely sure you wanna do this?" John knew he was being the irritating, stubborn human in her eyes now, again, but he didn't care. All he cared about was that she and the baby would be alright and despite Sikozu's repeated assurances, he still didn't have a good feeling about it. Instead of the exasperated look he had expected, he only saw one of understanding and love.

"John, I told you I would do this and I will not back down now."

John looked to Sikozu, who just gave a curt nod.

"I will remain here and monitor your progress. Should... something go wrong, I will disconnect Aeryn."

John had insisted Sikozu would stay here and was glad she had agreed to that precaution. He moved to his bed and lay back on it, one end of the neural interface connected to his head. He felt how Aeryn moved in a comfortable position next to him, glad she made an effort to keep a physical link to him as well. It was also the last thought he had before he found himself and Aeryn in his mind's representation of Sawyers Mill.

* * *

"It looks beautiful here."

John smiled, realizing this was the first time Aeryn was getting a peek at his past and immediately taking a liking to the place.

"It sure is a beautiful view."

"Harv, no eying my girlfriend." John felt sick, just seeing the neural clone look appreciatively and with lust at Aeryn. Sure, she was a beautiful woman, but the mental picture of Harvey or Scorpius making out with Aeryn was one he quickly needed to shake of.

"Don't worry, John. I would never allow either of them to do _that_ to me."

"You lack imagination, John. Any... intimacy with Officer Sun would be much more... interesting than that."

Damn, he forgot the both of them could actually see his inner thoughts, as well as hear them. "Can it, Harv. This isn't why we're here."

"Ah, yes, you are here to remove me. I am looking forward to this... doomed endeavor."

Aeryn shook her head. "The only thing that is doomed is your existence."

Harvey snorted. "I think, Officer Sun, you are underestimating my control over both John's mind as well as his body."

He demonstrated his control by changing the environment they were in a number of times in rapid succession, before he changed it into one inside a dwelling Aeryn didn't recognize.

"My apartment, the one I had before I went up in the Farscape."

For a moment Aeryn was afraid he had heard her thoughts, until she realized he had just wanted to inform her of their surroundings. Aeryn's eye fell on the knife-set in his kitchen. One of those could come in handy in this task. "Well, that's all very impressive, Harvey, but I doubt it will safe your eema." She started a systematic circuit of the apartment, trying to find anything that could help her.

John scanned the apartment from where he was standing. "Man, I'd forgotten how ugly that couch actually was." He turned to Harvey again. "Listen, Harv, I've had enough of you roaming around in my brain and ordering me to go fetch your boss."

Harvey looked back at him with a mock shocked expression on his face. "I do not order you John. I merely give you suggestions as to which course of action would be most wise to take."

John glared at him. "Yeah, repeatedly, I might add."

Harvey now looked annoyed. "It is not my fault you do not listen to my suggestions the first few times I make them."

John shook his head. "Whatever. It'll stop today."

"Very well, John, I will not make any suggestions to you from now on, unless you ask me too. Is that what you want?"

"No, that's not what I want! I want you gone as in 'hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more.'"

Aeryn had taken the proffered diversion to obtain a big knife and was approaching the duo nonchalantly. She was sure John hadn't seen her take it, and as long as John didn't know what she was going to do, neither would the neural clone.

"Really, John, your musical taste leaves room for improvement. Besides, I would think this situation more closely resembles that of 'Hotel California', don't you agree."

As Aeryn maneuvered around Harvey, seemingly to take her place next to John, she reeled her arm with the knife back.

"Nah, you never even tried to check out."

Just before the knife would have been implanted in his head, Harvey exerted his control of the environment to turn the knife into a pen. Taking it from the surprised Sebacean, he produced a checkout ledger and turned back to John. "I will check out now, if that is what you want." He placed a signature and gave the ledger to John. "I have checked out now, but I am still unable to leave. As you may remember, I am part of you and can not live outside of you at all."

John threw the ledger away. "I don't care about whether you live or die, Harv. One way or another you'll be removed from by brain, period."

Harvey snorted. "As long as Officer Sun will make these pathetic attempts, I will be here for a long time." He changed the environment to a beach, adapting the clothing the threesome was wearing to the new surroundings. "This seems a much nicer place to spend some time."

"Aw, God, Harv. Did you have to pick out a Hawaiian shirt?" John turned his head to make sure Aeryn was still there. Damn, she looked good in a bikini.

"John, is it normal for Earth women to walk around in their underwear in locations like this?" Aeryn was fighting the urge to cover parts of her body with her arms, not wanting to give the clone the satisfaction of a win, as they walked along an, admittedly, beautiful beach.

"In some of the locations like this, even that is not mandatory." John grinned, while trying to keep the mental picture of Aeryn at a nude beach away.

"Do not bother on my account, John. I have seen Officer Sun in the nude already, last night. And this morning."

John glared at the neural nuisance. "I didn't do that for you, but for me." He stole a glance to Aeryn. "I want to keep a clear mind." He looked back at the clone. "No pun intended. And that's another reason for you to go. I don't like the idea of you ogling Aeryn."

"Oh, John, I am a man. I have needs too."

"Yeah, but not with Aer! Pick someone else."

"Like your younger sister, perhaps?" Harvey had already conjured up the most recent memory John had of Olivia, but his fun was short-lived.

"You stay the hell away from her!" John had this time exerted his control, overriding that of Harvey, and transported the threesome to another place from his past.

Harvey looked around. "The gym? Are you trying to tell me I am out of shape?"

Aeryn walked around, analyzing the various devices used by humans for exercising. Her eye fell on a door with a mark on it, in English. She concentrated, trying to remember back to her time on Talyn when John had tried to teach her English. 'Hazardous area' she realized after a few microts. Would that be the neural cleanser? Noticing the two men were once again bickering and not looking in her direction, she tried to remove the sign. It was a simple sliding mechanism, so the sign was quickly removed.

She moved further to another door, again trying to read the sign. 'Steam room'. What the frell was that? Well, it didn't really matter now. She removed the sign and replaced it with the 'Hazardous area' sign. The two men still hadn't taken notice of her, and Aeryn moved back to the first door, sliding the 'Steam room' sign in place. She then moved back to the two men. "John, what is a steam room?"

Both men turned their head to them. "It's hot, wet place, so hot, the water turns into steam. It's very good to relax, but way to hot for you."

Aeryn snorted. "Not just for me. Harvey wouldn't last long in there either."

The neural clone eyed her. "I am sure I can last there quite some time, Officer Sun." He looked around. "Where is this steam room?"

Aeryn turned around and pointed. "Over there. But I trust John's judgment and will not go near there. Actually, I am not sure why you would jeopardize yourself." She knew she was taking a risk here by pointing it out, bust most likely the clone would let down his guard even more.

Harvey already moved towards the indicated door. "I assure you, Officer Sun, this will not endanger my life. I can always transport myself out of there before anything happens." Taking the doorknob in his hand, he turned towards the duo, conjuring up a timer in John's hand. "Time me, John." He opened the door, still turned towards the duo. "I bet I will last at least five minutes."

Aeryn smiled as she saw the opened door. "I bet you can last a lifetime in there." Before the clone could react, he was grabbed by gigantic tentacles and pulled into the room.

From their vantage point, John and Aeryn observed how the clone was pulled apart and devoured by a big black beast that seemed to consist of only a mouth and lots of tentacles.

Aeryn turned to John. "John, you need to close the door. That... thing will see me as the enemy as well and will devour me. It will not and can not harm you." She noticed his doubtful look. "Trust me, John, I will explain later, but please close the door now, or you will lose me as well."

John didn't have to be told again, and sprinted to the door. Just as he closed it, a small transparent blue orb rolled out of the room. John just looked at it, before he turned his head questioningly to Aeryn.

Aeryn moved closer, never taking her eyes of the orb, not trusting it at all. "I am not sure John. I do not know if this is what's left of Harvey or if it's part of you. I also don't know if you should smash it, keep it or just leave it where it is."

"What the hell was that thing?" John pointed to the now closed door, as he moved closer to Aeryn.

"Neural cleansers. Sikozu told me everyone has neural cleansers that take care of neural irregularities in the brain. She suggested that luring the neural clone into one, should take care of him."

"Right, everyone has a thing like that?"

Aeryn nodded. "Multiple, according to the Kalish."

John eyed the orb again. "So, I guess we need to talk to our resident nerd to find out what to do about the orb?"

"That seems to be the most appropriate course of action. Ready to return to the outside world?"

John grinned. "I go wherever you go." He observed her disappearing, and left his memories.

* * *

John lay awake on his bed. Their bed. He smiled, remembering how Aeryn moved all her stuff into his quarters, declaring these were now their quarters. He kissed the top of her head. She had learned much about him today about his past, mostly family related, and she had liked it all. He knew she would be gone for a weeken, but she would come back. She wasn't leaving him for someone else, nor to grieve the death of his other self. Sure, there could be danger involved in whatever she and Chiana were going into, she may die, but she was a fighter and a warrior. She would come back, he was sure of it. 


	2. Crichton Blues

Part 2 of 3

* * *

Aw, frell! This was beyond bad timing. John quietly got out of bed, careful to not wake the sleeping beauty beside him, something that was very difficult to achieve with a soldier trained to sleep lightly and awake to the slightest of changes in her surroundings. Miracle of miracles, he actually succeeded in stepping out of bed without her so much as stirring. He smiled a little, proud of his achievement. He admired her sleeping face for a few microts before shaking himself enough to handle the current problem. After putting on some loose-fitting pants and a shirt, he silently promised her to return quickly.

* * *

On his way to the Docking Bay John contemplated the wisdom of informing her of last night's... interruption. On the one hand, she would stay, and that was not a bad thing, but on the other was this thing Chiana apparently needed to do. John, in all good conscience, couldn't allow his Nebari friend to travel alone. No, it was probably better to not inform Aeryn until after she returned.

As he entered the Docking Bay, he observed Aeryn performing a generic visual inspection of the hull of her Prowler, usually the first step of her preflight checks. John briefly considered leaving her to it, knowing she wouldn't be happy being distracted from the task, but quickly decided that the short time they still had together should not be wasted.

He walked in her direction as she reappeared from behind the other side of the Prowler. Before either of them had a chance for a proper greeting, his arms had snaked around her to pull her tightly against him. She kissed him, but then turned around in his arms to return to her checks.

Well, at least she didn't seem to mind that he kept his arms around her, and John certainly didn't have any intention of letting her go. In between the checks, John made it his business to nuzzle her neck, stroke her belly or kiss her wherever he could reach from his position. He knew he was seriously hampering her movements and checks, especially when she had to walk around the Prowler but he refused to let her go. He figured it wouldn't be long before she started to complain.

"John, please, let me finish the preflight checks first."

Damn, he hated being right in situations like this. Not really wanting to give in, he kissed her where neck met shoulder, moving one of his hands to her butt. Not entirely sure she wouldn't lash out if he kept on doing this, he decided to take a short break. Just to explain his reasoning.

"Hey, I'm gonna have to live without you for a while. I gotta take every chance I can get." Done talking, on with the nuzzling and stroking.

"John, if I do not do this correctly, we might get in trouble. It might prevent me from returning to you quickly."

Hmm, she had a point there. He gave her one final kiss and then released her. "Right, I'll leave you to it, then." A grin started to form as he realized he wouldn't be able to stay away from her too long. "Can't make promises as to the length of time you get, though."

Hearing her throaty laugh almost did him in. Aeryn wasn't prone to laughing much. Well, unless you counted the times he had made a fool of himself, but that was completely different.

"I better hurry then."

Satisfied she saw reason, he moved back to the entrance and observed her from that spot, waiting for her to complete her checks, so he could perform checks of his own devise; none of which would have anything to do with a Prowler.

* * *

The moment he and D'Argo dreaded had arrived. Their women would be leaving them behind for a weeken. John was currently on the receiving end of a very thorough examination of the inside of his mouth, an examination he happily returned. A small portion of his brain registered surprise that Aeryn would kiss him so passionately where D and Pip could see, although the two of them were probably busy as well. Soon that part of his brain shut down as well.

Realizing they couldn't keep kissing, he released her, or she him. He wasn't actually sure who stopped first and maybe they actually stopped at the exact same moment.

"You better come back to me."

He hadn't intended to whisper like that, and was surprised by the emotions he could see wash over her, and he could have sworn there were doubts in the mix as well.

In the end she just smiled wistfully. "I promise I will. A weeken at most."

With that she turned around and climbed up and into the Prowler.

D'Argo watched as his lover followed Aeryn but suddenly dropped back to the floor and ran back to him, hugging him tightly.

"I'll come back, D'Argo. Everything will be alright, you'll see."

D'Argo just kept his arms around her until she released him, prompting him to do the same. It would be useless to ask her to reconsider her actions and with nothing else to say, D'Argo felt it would be best to not say anything at all. Instead he watched her turn back to the Prowler, give their friend a quick kiss on his cheek, and finally climb into the Prowler behind Aeryn.

* * *

John walked into Command, knowing his friend would be there. "D, can I talk to you for a microt?"

The Luxan, not even hearing him enter, momentarily turned to him. "Sure, John."

John walked to the console D'Argo was standing at. "You know, those maps we got, the ones that show us where the anomalies are? They're not accurate."

That certainly got D'Argo's attention. "What?! Are you sure?"

"Yesterday, just after we entered this region, last night and this morning, we passed through, or real close by, a closed wormhole."

D'Argo looked at the human. "How do you know this?"

John sighed. "Because I can sense them. I feel them when we are close by, and I am pretty sure I can calculate when one will open if we would stay near one for a little while. But that's not the point. The point is we could travel into a wormhole at any time."

"Is it safe to stop here?" At the nodded response, D'Argo palmed his comms. "Pilot, please hold at our current position. And have the others meet us..." He looked at John again and mouthed, "here?" When John agreed he resumed his request to Pilot. "...in Command."

Pilot's head appeared on the clamshell. "Moya is holding at our current position. I will notify the others of your request."

* * *

"Huh, are you saying I acquired faulty or inaccurate maps?" Rygel glared at the human. "I'll have you know that said maps have been used by the seller himself. How else do you explain that he was able to reach us, without getting caught?"

"Dunno, maybe he just had a lot of luck, or he lied to you. Whatever, we have traveled close by three closed wormholes since we entered the area, and I'm sure there'll be more up ahead." A sudden thought entered his mind. "Pilot, you tracked Aer and Pip, right? You're sure they left the area safely?"

"Yes, Commander. Aeryn's Prowler safely left Tormented Space and Moya was able to track them for at least an arn after that."

John noticed the thought hadn't occurred to D'Argo yet. "Right, well, it's clear we need to stay near the edge so we can warn them before they re-enter."

"Why? Because you claim you can more accurately locate wormholes than the map? I, for one, refuse to believe that." Rygel eyed the others, hoping to find some support for his view.

"What? You want a demonstration?" John glared back at Rygel. "Well, Buckwheat, this is your lucky day. Look out the view port. Wormhole will open in quatro, tres, dos, uno, now."

John heard the gasps around him as the blue tunnel indeed opened up in front of them. Belatedly, he remembered the fear the Leviathan had of wormholes. "Pilot, tell Moya that if she feels she's too close, she can back up a little."

"Moya feels we are at a safe-enough distance, but she thanks you for your concern."

"Well, Sparky, this one ain't on the map, is it?"

Rygel's earbrows sank. "So, what do we do now?"

John shrugged. "We wait till Pip and Aer return, go pick 'em up at the border of this region and then head in deeper."

"What?!"

John was startled by the collective response, in complete unison. His mind recalled the fact it was actually six different languages, though for what reason his mind found that piece of information important was beyond him.

"Isn't the reason we came here to get away from Peacekeepers and Scarrans? I don't think they've vanished already."

"But you just proved our maps are inaccurate." D'Argo didn't understand why John felt they should head deeper into the region.

Sikozu _did_ understand. "You can locate them all, can you not? You are going to provide us a map as we travel."

John nodded. "Every microt we have been standing here, my innate knowledge of wormholes is expanding, or rather, more and more of it is making its presence known to me. I can already sense all the wormholes we passed earlier from where we are now and a couple of dozen more in any direction and my brain is constantly providing me with new equations that help calculate probable locations, so soon I'll be able to provide a large number of locations we will definitely need to avoid. With the current range I have, I should be able to sense any remaining locations a ways before we even get close."

Scorpius turned to him. "I was right, was I not? Your control over wormholes is building and the immense knowledge about them is being released now."

John sighed. "Yeah."

D'Argo looked at his friend. "Not that I am complaining, but how come this knowledge is being released now?"

John sighed again. "Remember that sphere that was thrown out of the neural cleanser after Aer tricked Harv into goin' in there? Sputnik said it wasn't likely I'd run into it, but, with my luck, I did just that when I showed Aeryn my parents' home. Aeryn didn't notice it, but the sphere was there and when I touched it, it just dissolved. After that, the equations started rolling through my head and I could actually sense wormholes."

Sikozu nodded. "You assimilated the stored neural data." She considered briefly. "Probably the wormhole technology."

"More likely the secret decoder ring. Scorp already said the knowledge was there, but it was all encrypted."

D'Argo was a little worried about this whole situation. "John, should we end up in a wormhole regardless, would you be able to return us to our current location?"

John sighed. "With our luck? Probably not. Don't worry, we're not gonna end up in one if we stay here for a while. I think we've covered more than enough metras to avoid detection from possible Peacekeeper or Scarran activities."

D'Argo looked doubtfully to John. "With our luck? We either do end up in a wormhole or we get detected by Peacekeepers or Scarrans. If we are real lucky it will be all options at once."

* * *

John was in the maintenance bay, accompanied by both Scorpius and Sikozu. The latter two were looking on in awe at John's display of his new-found knowledge of technology. For all the technological knowledge both of them possessed, this was beyond either of their comprehension.

John had started out with building a small device that had allowed him to open and close the wormhole in front of Moya at will, and gradually improved on it. The final goal would be to gain the ability to open and stabilize a wormhole.

"John, if we are not planning on traversing a wormhole, why are you building the device?"

"As D and I already said, our luck will probably dump us into one anyway. This device is our insurance policy. If we're in danger of flying into an unstable wormhole, I'd like to be able to stabilize it. If we end up in the wrong place, I'd like to be able to reopen the wormhole to get us back."

"You... could use it to transport Moya and us to safety."

John sighed. "No, Scorp, we're not gonna use wormholes at all, unless it's the only option left. Wormholes are not to be played with; too much chance of screwing up the universe."

John continued his work on the device, every now-and-then asking either of them if they knew if they had a component that could do such-and-so, constantly updating the plans in his head to adapt to nonexistent components.

He cast a glance at Sikozu. "I understand that both of you are going to run into some power problems. Have you thought about looking into alternative power supplies?"

Sikozu nodded. "I have, but I have not come to a proper way to improve our power source. I still have about five monens before Scorpius' power supply runs out and I am confident I can come up with a suitable replacement."

"I'll let my mind wander to that problem as well. I may have a solution to your problem, but I'm not sure it'll work. First gotta finish this one first, though."

* * *

John had been working for arns when suddenly something entered his consciousness, spurring him on to palm his comms. "Pilot! Back up now!"

Both Sikozu and Scorpius were startled by John's sudden outburst.

"Commander, Moya and I are reversing our course."

Oddly enough Pilot's voice had sounded completely calm, even though John's hadn't. He had expected both Moya and Pilot would pick up on it and realize there was danger.

"We have moved several metras. Would that be enough?"

"Yeah, Pilot. That'll be enough." Damn, he completely forgot about non-anchored wormholes. Thank God his senses warned him of the change. The wormhole entrance would have been right on top of them and it was bound to open in the next few microts.

"John, why did you ask Moya to move?"

"The wormhole moved, D. We had to get out of the way before it opened again." Another idea entered his mind, something that would be much more helpful, and a lot easier to build. "Listen, big guy, I'll be done in a quarter-arn and meet you in Command then, alright?"

"Alright, John."

John deactivated his comms again.

"Wormholes can move?"

John sighed. Leave it to their resident nerd to be searching for answers. Truthfully, he had expected Scorpius to ask; even if he was just a bioloid copy, he was still a scientist with a special interest in wormholes.

"Yeah, some of them can. Most wormhole entrances are fixed but some of them can travel a few metras in any direction around a center point. Unfortunately, they do not follow fixed courses, just random jumps around that center point at random intervals. They're not common, but I guess it's just our usual luck we stop directly in front of one."

Sikozu nodded and handed John two components. "I think you can combine these into a phase inverter."

John took the two components and inspected them. "You know what, Sputnik? You might be right about that. But there's something else I'm gonna build first."

* * *

"Hey, D." John walked into Command. "Anythin' happenin'?"

D'Argo turned around to his friend. "No, besides the moving wormhole, all has been quiet so far. Truthfully, the past few arns have been extremely boring."

John nodded. "Yeah, thought you might be about ready to climb the walls. Why don't ya go grab a bite to eat? Get some rest or do some exercising? I'll take over for a while."

"Thanks, John. I think I will take a walk when I'm done eating. I'll be back in an arn or so."

"Sure, D. Take your time. I'll be installing this little device into Moya's system for added safety. Afterwards, I'll install another device, to help us in case we do get sucked into a wormhole. I just hope we're not gonna need it."

D'Argo clasped him on the shoulder. "So do I, my friend, so do I."

He walked out of Command, nearly colliding with the Kalish, who managed to step out of the way in time as she entered Command.

"Pilot agrees with your assessment." Sikozu was only slightly annoyed that Crichton knew this part of the Leviathan better than her. She hadn't been that sure at all when she stated the center console was where the sensor nodes were easiest to link into. Mortifyingly, as it turned out, the nodes didn't pass through that console at all, just as Crichton had told her.

Not seeing any reason to dwell on that mistake, and relieved the human didn't feel the urge to point it out, she moved to the console Crichton was already standing next to. "Do you desire my assistance?"

John nodded, slightly distracted. "Yeah, I could use an extra pair of hands."

She stopped near the console and crouched down in front of it to open the panel. She sensed Crichton crouching down beside her, looking at her and mumbling something. Sikozu turned her head towards him. "What did you say?"

"Nothin'. Just, somethin' I suddenly realized. Nothin' important."

He indicated which nodes needed to be severed and focused on the device in his hand, intent on making some final adjustments now that he'd seen the internal layout of the console.

Sikozu picked a cutter torch and began to cut the connections swiftly and cleanly. She pulled some of the cables towards the front, to ease the access to them.

"So, where did Scorp go to?"

Sikozu was startled by the sudden question. "He went to his quarters when he sensed his cooling rods were starting to overheat. He would not allow me to try and cool them again, claiming that he needed the rest."

John smirked at her. "Wore him out again last night, did ya?"

"I did no such thing!" Sikozu winced inwardly at the indignant tone, fully realizing the human was only teasing her.

Apparently, he only found that even more humorous, to judge by his toothy grin. She glared at him, without much success, and John winked at her. A smile slowly formed. "I may have, a little. Now, can we install this device?"

John chuckled. "Sure, Sputnik."

Together they carefully integrated the device into Moya's sensor array, making sure the connections were secure and properly made.

After a quarter-arn they were done and John palmed his comms. "Pilot, Moya should now have an additional sensor available."

Pilot's image appeared on the clamshell in response. "Indeed, Commander. The sensor appears to... detect wormholes?"

John smiled in satisfaction. "Sure does, buddy. This is just additional safety for you and Moya, in case I'm incapacitated. I've got another device handy that will allow you to sense space-time signatures. Should you get sucked into a wormhole while I'm not around, you should be able to find your way back to where you were. But, and I _cannot_ emphasize this enough, under no circumstances should you ever return to a point in time before you left."

"Moya and I understand, Commander, and we appreciate your gift."

"Any time, buddy, any time." Something at the back of his mind tried to clamor for attention.

"Commander, Moya senses a wormhole opening inside her!"

Damn, the big purple dude was right. "Pilot, have Moya plot a course away from here, pronto!"

* * *

What the frell happened? Had he hit his head or something? He seemed to have passed out. A voice...

"Crichton?! Where are we? What is happening?"

Aeryn? No, that's not right. Though female, definitely not Aeryn. A more annoying, though at the moment slightly terrified, female voice. Orange space station? Space stations generally don't talk, do they?

"Crichton?"

She sounded worried about him now.

* * *

"What do you mean 'they're gone'? How could they just disappear?" D'Argo was pacing Command, trying to dispel some of his anger by focusing his energy on movement. This was no time to get blinded by anger.

Pilot remained calm and regarded D'Argo through the clamshell. "A small wormhole appeared on Command and it sucked the Commander and Sikozu in. It immediately disappeared again."

D'Argo halted his stride and whirled around to the clamshell. "A wormhole? Didn't John sense it?"

Pilot looked down momentarily before he looked back up. "I... I believe he did, but he was distracted with instructing me about the new device he planned on installing, in addition to the one he already did. By the time I warned him Moya sensed the wormhole inside her, it was too late."

"Moya sensed the wormhole?"

"Yes, the Commander has installed a device that allows Moya to sense wormholes much like Crichton can."

D'Argo sighed. "What should we do now?"

"We... do nothing, Ka D'Argo."

Scorpius had entered Command undetected by the Luxan, who silently berated himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings.

"We cannot help them without knowing where they are. It also seems another being had taken over my... thought processes sometime during sleep cycle. It was very interested in who had knowledge of wormholes. He needed to speak with Crichton and found our realm... lacking for proper communication. He needed to speak with Crichton inside a wormhole. I did not regain control of myself until Pilot warned us. I do not think he intended to take Sikozu with him."

"So, we just wait until they are returned to us?"

"That appears to be the most logical solution, do you not agree, Ka D'Argo?"

D'Argo had to admit there wasn't much they could do anyway. He just hoped that whoever had taken John would return him, or there would be one angry ex-Peacekeeper walking around Command in a weeken. For the first time he was glad both women had left Moya.

* * *

"It's about time you woke up!" Sikozu realized that her intention of sounding annoyed was thwarted by her relief.

"Yeah, I'm glad to be awake, too." John rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hand. "What the frell happened?"

"We were pulled through a wormhole and now we are here."

John looked around and noticed they were on a big ice floe, seemingly surrounded by black water. "All we need now is some fog and a big boat." He sighed and stood up, stretching his back. "Alright, who requested the pleasure of our company? Come out, come out wherever you are." Slowly he turned around, scanning the ice floe they were standing on.

"Crichton, what are you doing?" Was the human completely fahrbot? Why would he attract attention to them?

"Isn't it obvious, Sputnik? I'm calling out to whoever has seen it fit to grab our collective asses and haul us through a wormhole. I'm betting they wanna talk to me about certain technology I have knowledge of that they would like to get their dirty little hands on."

Sikozu sniffed indignantly. "Really, Crichton, you can be so insufferably self-centered. Why would a creature with the knowledge to create a wormhole, and this environment inside it, need whatever tiny pieces of information you have?"

Well, she had a point there, didn't she? "Well, _someone_ wanted us here. I'm pretty sure..." He broke off as a swirling noise interrupted him. The water around the ice floe churned with several black, whirling vortexes which surrounded the ice.

Sikozu grabbed Crichton. "Or they want to dispose of us." She tried to tell herself there was no reason to hold on to Crichton should indeed something like that happen, but it didn't provide enough incentive to let go of him.

"Nah, they could've just spit us out somewhere in the blackness of space." Suddenly John sensed someone behind them and he turned around abruptly, dragging Sikozu with him.

On the other end of the ice floe stood a man, wearing a black suit and tie, hands folded at his waist, his eyes black and fathomless.

"Nice threads. Helps to humanize you. Makes it easier for me to sympathize with your problems." John tried to quell the anxiety rising. The fact the man's eyes were not showing any emotion was disturbing him more than anything else.

The man just watched him for a moment. "Time."

John tilted his head slightly. What was this dude up to?

"Time."

"Zzup?" Yeah, great goin'. Let's build up some anger in this guy by giving funny responses. That should really help in this situation.

"Time."

"Flies." John immediately racked his brain for another funny response for the inevitable repeat of the question, realizing that giving these responses was actually calming him down.

"Time."

Ah, got one. "Bandits." Quick, another one.

"Time."

The man started to move closer, increasing the uncomfortable feeling. "Wounds all heels." Well, probably could have done a bit better than that. Oh, this was not good. This guy was coming right at them. Would he dare another cute response?

"Time."

Oh, what the heck, why not? "Rosemary and Thyme…" Well, he was fresh out of ideas now.

"Time."

Uhm, repeat the earlier responses? Come on brain, think!

"To go," Sikozu supplied.

John cast a glance at her. "Nice one!"

She definitely seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, but he never expected her to come up with a flip remark like that.

"Time."

John, tired of the whole game by now, thought of a more appropriate answer. "Is infinite." And trouble if you end up at the wrong point in time. "Relative. Meaningless, but the thing that can screw up the entire universe should you forget to account for it when you exit a wormhole." With some satisfaction, John saw the man was actually surprised at the answer. "My name is Jo..."

"Yes."

"And yours is...?"

"Unimportant to our encounter."

"Of course, how dumb of me. So, Einstein, you wanted to see how dangerous I am? Where I got the wormhole knowledge from? Well, to start with the latter, some god-like species sucked me down a wormhole..." He cut off the sentence as he found the whole ordeal being played in his mind uncontrollably. "No, no, no-no-no, no! You get the frell out of my head!"

"Ancients." He didn't seem too surprised about them.

"Friends of yours?"

"Members of our race adapted to exist in your realm."

John thought about that some more. Why would they need members of their race in another realm? Ah, of course! "To spy on us."

"To catalogue, report and influence."

John growled. "They influenced, alright. They put this stuff in my head, locked it up so I wouldn't be able to use it and hid the key."

"Clearly the knowledge has been unlocked."

John glared at him. "Gee, y'think? Now, stay outta my head and let me explain it the normal way. You see, I've had this pesky little problem of people wanting to get me because I got this stuff in my head, which at first I wasn't even aware of, and, silly me, I didn't wanna share. So what do they do? They put things in me. Things with a neural identity. The kind that rummage around your head and start to give advice when they think you can't figure things out yourself."

"But yesterday we finally got rid of one. He was pushed into a neural cleanser in my head and out of the blue, no pun intended, an orb comes rolling out. I touch orb later and I get a huge headache and can smell wormholes a metra away. By the way, I sensed you when you were in Scorpy, although I wasn't sure it was him or her." He pointed at Sikozu.

"You found the key that would unlock the knowledge."

"Hell, yeah." He contemplated the situation. Seeing that these were the ancestors of the Ancients, they'd probably know how to remove this stuff. John was well aware of the dangers of this knowledge, and the sooner it was gone, the better. "Can you get this stuff out?"

"You want it removed, why?"

Maybe Einstein had been the wrong name. "Why? Haven't you been payin' attention? People want this stuff. What I don't have, they can't take from me. Besides, I could screw up the universe big time if I get it wrong with these parallel universes."

"Unrealized Realities."

"Yeah, whatever. Not to mention the trouble you're in when you get to the wrong point in time and you end up sometime in your own past. Nah, this stuff has to go."

"Impossible. Impractical and possibly imprudent."

Yep, Einstein clearly didn't cut it. This guy knows about the dangers of wormholes and finds it 'impractical' and 'imprudent' to have the knowledge removed from him.

"What do you desire with wormholes?"

John chuckled. "If you'd ask me that a few monens back, I'd have said I wanted to go home. But I'm not so sure, now. I mean, I'd like to see my family again, let 'em know I'm alright, but I couldn't stay there. Earth would be too small for me. We can barely escape gravity. It takes us days to get to our moon. Here, I get to see so much more, travel much further in less time." And remain with Aeryn, who'd never be able to live on one planet her entire life. She'd go crazy on Earth; he'd go crazy without her.

"Your place of origin is where you could do the most damage."

"Like I said, it'd be a quick visit and I'd be gone before they know it. That's the only reason I'd like to keep this stuff. But I know the dangers out there, and I'd rather give up visiting Earth and my family than run the risk of letting others find this stuff and take it from me for their own purposes."

"Are you afraid of the knowledge?"

"Hell, yeah!" What kind of stupid question was that? "There's so much damage that could result from the use of it."

Einstein barely responded, just eyed him thoughtfully. "Tell me about wormhole traversal."

John sighed. "I thought you knew this stuff?" John didn't sense a reaction beyond a slightly annoyed look. "From every entrance, a wormhole splits into multiple paths. This will continue until you reach an exit."

John scrubbed at his face. "Each exit has a specific signature and every exit will be surrounded by alter... unrealized realities, so the closer you get to your intended destination, the more you must focus on the one you actually seek. And don't forget the time; never appear at a place you've been before prior to the last time you left. So, no time traveling." A doubtful look crossed his features. "What if I accidentally _do_ end up in the past?" Considering his luck, and all.

"Should a traveler appear earlier in the timeline of his own existence, he would be..." Einstein threw a lump of ice in the pond that had appeared the moment he started talking. "But a pebble cast on still waters. The ripples he creates would, over time, radiate upon far distant shores… geometrically altering events in its path, resulting in an unrealized reality. Ignore the ripples. Focus on the pebble, which will fall close to you, fix the event and leave. The elasticity of time allows for unrealized realities to remain so. If events are matched closely enough to course, they have a way of restructuring themselves to familiar outcomes."

John nodded. "Right, fix first thing to go ape, then get the hell out of Dodge. Anything else?"

"From the moment the Ancients implanted that knowledge, you exist to service a larger..."

"Hell, no. They planted it in my head, they can watch our side."

"They have disappeared."

"Then build new ones."

"The effort is in hand, but requires time for metamorphosis."

"If you can't get this stuff out now, I'll make sure no one else gets it, but that's it. When the new secret agents arrive, you get this stuff outta my head."

"Have you truly chosen to help prevent aggressive species from acquiring this knowledge?"

John shook his head. "Not as a career. Anything else you need to check?"

"It appears your grasp of wormhole knowledge is adequate."

"Great, so you can return us to where you grabbed us from."

"I cannot."

John eyed him. "Excuse me? Why the hell not?"

"Propulsion."

Right, no propulsion. "Well, you didn't seem to have any trouble sucking us in, why can't you just spit us out?"

"You were drawn towards this location. It is not possible to steer you to an outward destination."

Einstein must have known this before he got them here. They weren't _supposed_ to return. "You weren't planning on letting us go at all, were you? It didn't matter you got an innocent person along with me, all for the good cause. Is that it?"

"Yes. You were here to perish. I was here to affect that outcome. But that has become irrelevant. You can return on your own, you possess the knowledge."

John looked at Sikozu, who had been totally enthralled by the entire verbal debate about wormholes, and then looked back at Einstein. "Wormholes generally do not exist on planets or ships, hence when we exit the wormhole, even if we end up in the right spot, we end up in space. Without an EVA suit, we'd die in microts."

Einstein shook his head. "I cannot help you. This place will soon start to disintegrate. You should leave before it no longer exists. Remember..." Einstein vanished, but his voice stayed audible, Cheshire cat-like. "...Destination is key. Maintain absolute engrossment."

John stared unbelievingly at the spot Einstein had stood in just a moment ago. He turned to Sikozu, who was observing him intently with two big green eyes. "And then there were two."

Sikozu realized that right now, Crichton was her only way back to Moya, back to Scorpius. She also understood there was absolutely no way he could get them back on Moya directly and exiting in space was not something to look forward to. Whatever was going to happen, it was important to stay close to the human at all times, until they were safely back aboard Moya.

John thought deeply about the current situation. The rumbling and the ice floe that was becoming increasingly smaller gave him a good indication just how much time they still had. Einstein had told him that he had the knowledge to get back to Moya safely, but John wished Einstein had just told him directly what he should do. Once again he looked at Sikozu, who had moved closer, her gaze firmly locked on him.

"Could you not return to the entrance that pulled us in?"

"I could, but we run the risk Moya has moved away from that spot. In fact, whatever exit we choose, she'll be moving away from it and we'll end up in the coldness of space."

"I... I could survive a small amount of time in outer space by temporarily deactivating my respiratory organs. If we are close enough to Moya, she might detect me, pull me in and I can explain to them that you will open a wormhole inside her."

John mulled that over, but shook his head. "Won't work. For one, you wouldn't know which exit to take, so I'd have to go with you anyway, but even if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't know when I could safely travel."

"We could use the comms to inform you Moya is in place."

John's face lit up. "Or we use the comms to inform Moya we're on our way back and if she could please move to the location she was in when we got sucked in."

"Could you direct the signal any better than you would be able to direct me?"

Damn, good point. "No." Still, there must be a way. Einstein said it was possible.

* * *

"Any sign of them, Pilot?" Rygel peered out the forward view portal at the wormhole that had flared to life mere microts ago.

"I am afraid not, Dominar. There is no indication they have exited the wormhole, or are indeed inside it."

"Have you tried comming them?"

"As I said, Dominar, Moya cannot sense them anywhere."

Rygel huffed. "Do you and Moya understand wormholes? Just because you can't detect them, does not necessarily mean you can't contact them."

"I... I will try, Dominar."

D'Argo had observed the entire discussion from the entrance of Command. Uncharacteristically, the little Dominar had shown more interest in the well-being of their two missing crew members than that of his own. If D'Argo didn't know that this was one of the rare occasions Rygel acted like this, he might even vote for him when they would elect the Captain of Moya as Pilot had requested.

Just as D'Argo stepped inside, the comms came back to life. "Pilot! D! Can you hear us?"

"Yes, John, we can hear you. Where are you?"

"Hey, D, good to hear your voice. Now listen up, this is important. How long ago were we sucked through that wormhole?"

"A little less than two arns."

"Right, minor time dilation, no biggy. Moya still in the same place? The wormhole still around Command, Pilot?"

"Yes, Commander. Moya and I have made sure the wormhole stayed inside Command from the moment you vanished."

"Great. Stay there, we're gonna try and get back to you. Keep the wormhole within Moya's boundaries until we get back."

* * *

"Ready, Sputnik?" John looked at Sikozu who was warily eying the dark surface surrounding the now tiny ice floe.

She looked back up at him. "Where is the wormhole?" It was not that she did not trust him, but more an interested question.

"It'll open in just a few microts. Stay close." John felt her hold on him strengthen. Probably scared they would get separated. "Three, two, one, wormhole!"

The blue tunnel flared into existence and not a microt too soon. They were now literally standing on the edge of the ice floe, no room to spare. "Right, here we go." He took a breath, made sure he had a solid hold on Sikozu and leapt into the wormhole, opening his mind to find the space-time signature that would lead them back to Moya, back to safety.

* * *

"Crichton? Why did we not land on Command? For that matter, where are we?"

John sighed. "I dunno. The comms don't work though, and this is definitely not Moya, though what it is, I dunno. As for the why, I might have taken the wrong exit accidentally."

Suddenly a voice came from behind them. "You are out of time."

They whirled around and eyed the owner. John growled. "Frell."


	3. Heads Up

Part 3 of 3

* * *

"You are out of time." 

"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya the first time. So, how far off are we exactly?"

"Impossible to determine. Your time signature indicates you have traveled backwards in time."

John sighed. "I don't get it. I remembered the exact space-time signature of our last departure, added a few arns to be on the safe side and focused on that signature the whole way through. We should be right back on Moya, approximately four arns after we departed."

Einstein looked slightly worried. "Your last departure, it was not through a natural wormhole?"

"No..." Suspicion clawed its way into John's conscious thoughts. "You used the same space-time signature in both cases. The one you used to get into Scorpy's head and then the same one when you sucked us right out of Moya's Command."

"Special signature used by my people. Unique."

John nodded, rubbing his thumb over his lower lip. "Doesn't compute. I only detected one single space-time signature, not two identical ones. Should've made it through the last one you used, because that would've overridden the first one, effectively removing the first signature from existence, right?"

"Time."

John sighed. "No, no, no! We've gone through this before, I'm not gonna play these games again." Einstein didn't seem to budge. "Time is nothing, yet all. If you don't account for time during travel, you can screw the pooch." In some part of his brain alarm bells were ringing, telling him he overlooked something.

"Tell me about traveling backwards in time."

"Look around closely. The first thing to go ape needs to be fixed... Aw, frell!" That's what the alarm bells wanted to tell him. So, what could have gone wrong here, in Scorpy's head? "Wait a minute. Neither Sputnik nor I have ever been in this place. We couldn't have screwed the pooch this time!"

"Inaccurate."

"Because it is so close to Sputnik?" Noticing that Einstein didn't respond at all, John assumed he was right and turned to Sikozu. "Alright, Sputnik, you should look carefully for anything that might be deviating from your past. To be sure, I'll be looking for differences as well."

Sikozu looked around before turning back to John. "I have never been in Scorpius' head."

John shook his head. "No, but we should pay close attention to whatever is happening outside. I'm guessing the both of you are still in the middle of sleep cycle, but soon enough you're gonna wake up. That's when you need to keep an eye out for differences."

Sikozu nodded, but looked a bit uncomfortable.

* * *

"_Scorpius?_" 

Both Sikozu and John were startled when they heard Sikozu's voice coming in from the outside of Scorpius.

"_Are you awake?_"

Immediately following that, the duo received visual input as well, in the form of Sikozu's face looking directly at, seemingly, them. John turned his head to Sikozu when he noticed the expression on outside-Sikozu's face. "Should I look away for a while?"

Unexpectedly, that drew a smile from Sikozu. "Am I that unattractive to you?"

John chuckled. "Well, I see you more as the nerdy little sister, but you're not unattractive. I'm more afraid Scorpy's is gonna look at himself at some point, and I'm certainly not interested in hearing him during... you know... whatever you two are gonna do."

Scorpius chose this moment to respond to the Sikozu outside. "_Yes, my dear. I have been awake for a little while now._"

Outside-Sikozu straddled the Scarran half-breed. "_Than perhaps we should do something to amuse ourselves._"

John sighed, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. "I really should stop listening and looking now, shouldn't I?"

Sikozu looked at him, still smiling. "Might be a good idea. I let you know when we have finished our... task."

"_And what did you have in mind?_"

As Sikozu's face got closer, John pressed his hands to his ears and closed his eyes. He had no trouble with knowing the two were having sex, but he was in no way interested in observing it.

Sikozu did look. She wanted to learn how Scorpius viewed her, under whatever circumstances. Especially the odd energy waves that only Scorpius was able to see. She tried to remember closely what she had felt at the various moments and see if she could see the changes in the energy signature surrounding her.

* * *

John, still sitting with his hands over his ears and his eyes closed, let his mind go over the situation. There was a little problem to this whole situation. Once they'd found out what needed to be fixed and actually fixed it, they needed to get out as quickly as possible. But where to? The time signature he had was apparently not usable, since it seemed to end up here. For that matter, Einstein hadn't really been very forthcoming with an explanation. Well, that was nothing new, of course. 

John let his mind wander over the new knowledge he possessed, trying to find some additional clues. Einstein had told him, the first time, that he had the right knowledge to get them out safely. That meant the way back was stored somewhere in his brain; he only had to find it.

* * *

Sikozu watched in utter fascination at the image of herself as seen through Scorpius' eyes. She had never realized what intriguing patterns her energy waves were making when in an aroused state. It certainly explained why Scorpius was always looking at her during such encounters. 

With satisfaction, Sikozu realized that Scorpius himself was also thoroughly enjoying their current session, and she was pretty sure it wasn't solely because of the patterns. There were other pleasing things, more physical. He seemed to enjoy the feel of her pressed against him as she sucked in a breath in response to his slap on, and subsequent squeeze of, her eema.

* * *

Now lying down, as his arms had gotten tired by covering his ears in a sitting position, another thought struck John. How would they possibly affect anything in the outside world? Sure, they could see what was wrong, but how could they change anything? Einstein must have realized this already, yet he had once again kept his mouth shut and was not giving them any more information. 

At least, so far, things seem to be completely going according to the past as Sikozu remembered. He was pretty sure she would have warned him if she had detected something wrong by now. Well, now that he thought about it, how long had the two of them been busy? He'd been sitting and later lying here with his eyes closed and ears covered for over two arns. From what he remembered, Sikozu and Scorpius had been with him in the Maintenance Bay the first time he went there, before he had said goodbye to Aer and Pip.

* * *

Sikozu waited until both of them were dressed before tapping Crichton on his shoulder. 

John cracked one eye open just a little, making sure every one was safely dressed again and not touching each other. Satisfied that was indeed the case, he opened both eyes and put down his hands. He raised himself up into a sitting position again, turned to Sikozu and took in her contended expression. "I see you had a good time watching the home videos."

She just smiled. "So far everything seems as I remember."

"That's good." He watched the vision provided by Scorpius' eyes. He looked back at Sikozu worriedly. "There's not gonna be an encore today, right?"

She shook her head, without letting the smile fade. "No."

John turned back to the section that displayed whatever Scorpius saw. It appeared the two were ready to go to the Maintenance Bay, completely according to plan.

"Well, maybe when we get back."

Huh? Oh, the encore. He smiled but did not look at her. "Remind me to stay clear from your quarters when we get back."

"_My dear Sikozu, something seems wrong._"

John looked to Sikozu next to him. "Tell me this happened this morning."

She nodded. "Yes."

"_What is it, Scorpius?_"

"Scorpius had sensed something inside him."

"_It seems my thought processes are... not entirely my own. It appears... someone or something has penetrated my core._"

"I will volunteer to scan him but he... declines."

"_Do you want me to link with your core and run a diagnosis?_"

"What's up with your energy signature?" John turned to Sikozu who had a faint blush. "Never mind, don't wanna know, forget I even asked."

"_This might be a wise precaution._"

"Houston, we have a problem." John almost laughed at the irony. Back on Earth he had frequently pointed out to people using this quote that the actual words on the Apollo 13 mission had been 'Houston, we've had a problem' and now he was the one to quote it wrong.

"_Under normal circumstances. However, it seems my thought processes are frequently interrupted with thoughts about you. I do not believe I am willing to have this... penetration removed._"

They observed as Scorpius closed the distance between him and Sikozu, until he could grasp her.

"Ah, frell." John turned to Sikozu again. "Couldn't you've waited till this had happened before you signaled me?"

Sikozu shrugged. "It seems harmless to me."

They heard the outside-Sikozu gasp. "_So it seems my precautions have worked. You will not look at other females without thinking of me._"

"_My dear Sikozu, you need not have worried about that. You know where my... loyalties lay._"

The two were now on the verge of smooching again and John momentarily thought about closing his eyes and covering his ears again until outside-Sikozu responded.

"_We should go to the Maintenance Bay. I want to find an alternative power source._"

As the two walked towards the Maintenance Bay, John made a discovery. "I never realized Scorpy could see Moya's energy waves as well. Of course it makes sense. He can detect the energy signature of living species and Moya is of course alive as well. Just never occurred to me."

"Crichton?" Sikozu waited until John focused on her. "What are we to do when we do actually find out what deviation has occurred? We are not in a position to affect any changes to the outside."

John sighed. "Yeah, I've been wondering that, too. Doesn't seem to make any sense, does it?" John rubbed his thumb across his lower lip again. "Ya know, Einstein never really gave any indication I was right, did he? I mean, I assumed we were in trouble because we were close to the you out there, but he never responded to that assumption at all."

"But what else could have gone wrong? If neither of us has ever been here, we can not possibly have altered anything in here."

John nodded. "Exactly my conclusion as well. Still, I think our best bet is to keep watching this reality show, brought to us in SurroundSound and ScorpyVision." He turned his gaze to the, well, screen he supposed. "How long were you in the Maintenance Bay before I joined you?"

"About half an arn." Sikozu was again feeling uncomfortable. Crichton was about to witness a discussion between Scorpius and herself that she had not intended to bring forth to the Moya crew at all.

John watched in silence as the two worked in the Maintenance Bay. Or rather, Sikozu rummaging around and Scorpy just observing her, sometimes giving suggestions.

"_Sikozu, when are you going to inform the crew about your situation?_"

Outside-Sikozu sighed. "_I am not certain I should inform them. They may not even be able to help and I should not bring them more trouble than they already have to deal with frequently._"

Scorpius walked towards her and held her. "_I believe you are underestimating their capabilities, as have I... as has Scorpius in the past. Furthermore, you have helped them greatly and I am sure they would be willing to help you in any way they could._"

John looked to the Sikozu next to him. "He's right, you know. You've helped us a lot and I'm sure we can help you in some way."

The Sikozu next to him didn't respond, but the outside-Sikozu did. "_I do not wish for them to feel obliged to help with a situation that could very well result in their deaths. We are talking about Scarrans and the oppression of my people by them. This crew is not able to deal with Scarrans and come out alive. They are too few._"

"_Yet, you seem to think you will be able to so, alone._"

"_No, I am here to locate any means that would allow the Kalish to overtake the Scarrans. That is why I was so interested in finding Scorpius. His hatred towards his Scarran heritage was a common goal. The Resistance was aware of your... his constant search for the ultimate weapon that would destroy the Scarrans. I was sent to help in any way possible._"

"_Sikozu, wormholes are not the answer. I agree that the Scarrans must be overpowered, but other means will have to be found. John may be able to help us get into Scarran space with a wormhole, to surprise them. The crew of Moya is very resourceful. If we can achieve even a small-scale attack that would free some Kalish, they could help us find alternatives to overpower the Scarrans._"

"_And what about the Kalish that remain behind? The Scarrans will punish them._"

"_The Scarrans will believe the crew accidentally freed the Kalish during their escape from Scarran captivity and will not harm the remaining Kalish. Of course, the crew may come up with a better plan. As I said, they are very resourceful. But you will have to ask them yourself._"

John turned to the Sikozu sitting next to him. "We are so gonna talk about this when we get back. I hate to say it, but Scorpy's right; we may be able to help you out here. Not so sure 'bout the wormholes in this story but other options maybe available to us."

* * *

Sikozu quietly observed the things she and Scorpius had done this morning. Her mind was going over the things both Scorpius and Crichton had said. She was well aware wormholes were too dangerous and possibly even too unpredictable to be used successfully. What other options would be available? 

How could Crichton say they'd be able to help her? From what she had understood, they had run into a handful of Scarrans before, so they must realize the difficulties in dealing with Scarrans. But staying on the Leviathan while they hid from both Peacekeepers as well as Scarrans would not be helping her cause, either. Maybe she should leave, perhaps with Scorpius, and try to find a way to deal with the Scarrans.

She barely suppressed a sigh. These past arns watching the events from this morning was starting to get boring. Nothing seemed to be deviating at all. She glanced over to where Crichton was sitting, also looking bored, as well as in deep thought. As she turned back to the viewer she realized they had come to the moment Scorpius had left to rest so she could assist Crichton.

"Frell."

Sikozu looked back to Crichton after hearing his muttered curse.

"Einstein! You get you're butt over here, now!"

Sikozu stood up and walked to him as he also got up. "Crichton, what is it? Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, somethin's wrong alright. It's not out there, though." He pointed to the viewer. "It's right in here, inside Scorpy's nugget." He waved his arms about to indicate their current surroundings. "Or, more precisely, wherever Einstein is right now." He looked around and started shouting again. "Yo! Einstein! You lied!"

Unerringly John sensed Einstein's appearance behind them, standing in front of the screen. "There's no deviation now, is there? 'Inaccurate' my ass! Neither of us has been here, we didn't cause a deviation."

Sikozu looked from the strange man to the human and finally kept her focus on Crichton. "Crichton, why would he do that? He has no reason to keep us here."

"Yeah, he does. He's gonna leave Scorpy soon so he can prepare to haul our asses down his home-made wormhole. When he leaves, he drags us with him and that's when our trouble starts."

"What trouble?"

"He's gonna use the same space-time signature on the wormhole that's gonna drag us to the Titanic scene. Since we are already part of that signature, he's effectively exposing us to the area we last departed from, but before we were actually sucked in."

Einstein smiled faintly, seemingly content with the explanation given by Crichton. Sikozu still had a question though. "But when we ended up here, we also used that space-time signature. Shouldn't we have caused a problem then?"

"No, 'cause I used a time coordinate four arns after the wormhole had been created. The fact that the two were created at different actual time coordinates didn't matter, only the relative time between creations." In his head, John started some calculations.

Sikozu contemplated the explanation Crichton had given. It seemed plausible but it did make her wonder how they were going to get back to Moya.

"Alright, we were here for at least seven arns. So we have to leave here, find the correct space-time signature of the wormhole inside Moya, which includes checking the actual time coordinate of the exit, add twelve, maybe thirteen arns to be on the safe side and we're back on Moya." He turned to Einstein. "Whadda ya say? I figured things out right?"

Einstein gave a faint nod. "You have outlined the correct path. I will depart in five hundred microts."

John nodded and turned back to Sikozu. "Well, Sputnik, we're gonna go travelin' again. Stick close to me."

Sikozu nodded and moved closer to him so she could grab him when he would tell her the wormhole would open up.

John looked back at Einstein again. "Isn't there a problem when you meet me at the ice floe?"

Einstein barely shook his head. "You have not met me. I have been sent to catalog wormhole knowledge. As I travel back, another will be responsible to affect your death. I have not communicated this encounter. The elasticity of time..."

"...allows for unrealized realities to remain so. If events are matched closely enough to course, yadda, yadda, yadda. I've heard the speech before, no need to repeat it." John closed his eyes momentarily, focusing on the distinct signal that indicated the impending opening of the wormhole, then opened them again. "Scorpy doesn't know, does he? About us?"

"He will know of my presence once I have left him and he awakes again. He does not know about you."

John grabbed Sikozu's hand. "Wormhole in ten microts." He closed his eyes again, focusing on his sense for space-time signatures, slowly moving in the direction the wormhole would open up. A microt before the wormhole opened up he sucked in a breath and held it. Two microts later they were traveling through the wormhole tunnels.

This time he checked the space-time signature longer also letting his senses pick up the time coordinate outside the wormhole. Nope, that's the one inside Scorpy again. Continuing to whiz through the tunnels, he sensed the same space-time signature again, this time with the right time coordinate on the outside.

* * *

John looked around. At least they were back on Moya with D'Argo and Scorpy looking right back. "Hey, D. How long were we gone?" 

"Almost thirteen arns." D'Argo moved to his human friend to help him get up. "What happened since our last communication? That has been eleven arns ago and you said you were attempting to get back."

"We hit a snag, ended up in the wrong part of town. Not important." John turned around. "Sikozu, you alright?"

Sikozu was being held by Scorpius, who had picked her up from the floor. "Yes, Crichton, I am fine." Her gaze never left Scorpius' face.

John turned back. "Pilot, get us to a safe spot, away from the wormholes, please."

"Very well, Commander. Moya wishes to thank you. Your new sensor seems to be working admirably."

* * *

"John?" D'Argo looked from the entrance of the Terrace to where his human friend was sitting. "You seemed distracted earlier." This had confused D'Argo a bit, since John had seemed fine the last three days, even though he was worried about Aeryn and Chiana. His current condition didn't seem to be related to the two women though. 

John turned around to look at his friend, beckoning him to come closer. "Yeah, I've been thinkin' about this whole thing about wormholes, Ancients and Einstein. This stuff in my head... man, talk about bad news. Nobody should have this knowledge, it's so frelling dangerous. You could literally wipe out all existence, just because you made a tiny little mistake."

D'Argo moved closer and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"And I'm not sure if it's worth it for me to keep on goin'. I mean, if the Scarrans or the Peacekeepers catch me, the whole universe could disappear because of what's inside here." He pointed at his head.

D'Argo sighed, not knowing how to help his friend. He didn't understand all of what his friend had told them, even Scorpius and Sikozu seemed to have trouble understanding it all, but he was fully aware of the fact it was extremely dangerous.

"But then there's..." No, the baby is for Aeryn and him to tell together. "I don't wanna sacrifice myself, not so soon. My understanding, my knowledge of this stuff is still growing. Maybe I'll find a way to safeguard the knowledge or myself, heck, all of us, from inquiring minds."

D'Argo hunched down. "Perhaps you should not worry about that so much now. The Peacekeepers and Scarrans will not come to this place, so your chances of being captured have decreased considerably."

John sighed and looked to his friend, a small smile forming. "Yeah, you're probably right." He turned back to the view of the stars, though he hadn't looked at them at all since he had arrived here. "So, any sign of the girls returning?"

"No, Pilot continues to scan but our current location prevents Moya's sensors from reaching beyond the border of Tormented Space, perhaps just a metra further. Pilot is confident, though, that he will detect them in time to inform them of the changed map."

John nodded. "Any idea where Sikozu is?"

"I saw her in the Maintenance Bay before I came here."

John stood up. "Thanks, I need to talk to her about something. I'll come to Command after that, okay?"

"Sure, John." D'Argo turned towards the entrance. "I will go there now. I will see you later."

John followed D'Argo out of the Terrace. "Hey, D." He waited until his friend turned back to him. "Thanks for the talk, man. I really appreciate it."

D'Argo, not knowing how to respond to that, nodded once and turned around to head for Command.

John watched him go for a few paces before he, too, turned around to head for the Maintenance Bay.

* * *

Sikozu was sitting on the workbench, toying with some component. Both Scorpius and Crichton had told her basically the same: the crew of Moya might be able to help her in her mission to release her people from Scarran oppression. It actually made her feel good, knowing that at least the human would be willing to aid her, but what about the others? Sikozu doubted they would be so willing to help her.

The Nebari girl was often hostile towards her, making it clear she didn't like her at all. Aeryn didn't appear to have much confidence in her either, though she did defend her when Crichton wasn't sure the device to expel the neural clone was actually safe. None of the others seemed to like her any better.

Sikozu realized it was her own fault. From the beginning she had presumed herself to be their superior, often criticizing them. Only the last weeken or so had made her realize this crew was her superior in many ways. She may become part of this crew, find her place where she could be most useful and one day they may find a way to deal with the Scarran oppression. One day, but not now. Not soon, either.

"Hey, Sikozu." John walked further into the Maintenance Bay after observing her for a short while near the door. "You've come to a decision yet? About asking the crew?"

She looked in his direction, putting down the component in the process. "Yes, I have. I have decided it is better for all of us if we do not discuss this matter for now. I believe it is in my best interests to remain here, on Moya. I will try not to alienate the crew further, perhaps find something that will help me in my mission and only then will I ask the crew for support, should it become necessary."

John leaned against the workbench Sikozu was still sitting on. "You sure 'bout this? Like I said, I'm sure the crew will help you in anyway possible and..."

"Help with what, Crichton? We do not have a plan, we have no weapon that may give us an advantage over any Scarran forces, but most of all we have not enough people to be effective."

John sighed. "We can always come up with a plan."

Sikozu snorted. "Though your plans do seem to work... eventually... I think I will pass on the offer for now."

John chuckled. "Yeah, my plans really do suck sometimes, don't they?"

Sikozu smiled at him. "Sometimes? I have not seen evidence of any plan that was effective without any changes at the last microt."

John chuckled again. "Alright, I admit it, my plans suck all the time." He paused, still looking at the bench before finally looking up at her. "You talked with Scorpy 'bout this? He's aware of our trip into his head?"

Sikozu nodded. "Yes. He was aware of... Einstein? But he did not know we were also present. It appears this Einstein had communicated with Scorpius to obtain information about you and wormholes."

"Well, that's a good thing, I suppose. At least we haven't influenced the timeline, far as I can tell." John looked behind him when he sensed someone else nearing them. He was still barely able to suppress a shudder whenever he saw Scorpius walking in his direction. "Hey, Scorp." He glanced back to Sikozu. "I better get back to Command. Maybe the girls'll return soon." He turned around to head for the exit.

"Crichton." Sikozu waited until he looked back at her. "Thank you for your concern and offer."

He smiled at her. "Anytime, Sputnik." He turned back and walked out of the Maintenance Bay.

* * *

John and D'Argo were waiting impatiently for the inner door to cycle open, allowing them to meet their lovers who were at this very moment setting down in the Docking Bay at the other side of the closed door. Finally they were allowed in, still hearing the engines on one of the ships before that sound died off as well.

The fact they were now actually in the Docking Bay was not a real improvement, since they still had to wait for the two women to shutdown the ships properly before they'd emerge.

Chiana emerged first, apparently impatient as well, because she jumped to the floor before the boarding ramp on the Marauder had completely descended.

John smiled as he saw her run to D'Argo and jump straight into his arms, remembering a similar welcome she had given him when he had gotten off that rock after he blew up Scorpy's Gammak Base. He quickly pulled himself back to the here-and-now and strode over to the brand-spankin'-new looking Prowler as Aeryn was about to climb out.

John waited until she had jumped down and turned around. He was about to greet her but instead she decided to kiss him senseless. It was working pretty well, too. As they released each other he could finally greet her properly. "Hey, babe, missed ya." Aeryn's response was preceded by yet another kiss.

"I missed you, too, John."

D'Argo was also thoroughly enjoying the welcome he received from Chiana, until she stopped and looked at him.

"Told ya I'd come back."

D'Argo nodded. "I am glad you did." He didn't know what else to say. He had many questions, but these could come later. Right now he only wanted to take her in his arms and carry her back to his quarters. They had a lot of catching up to do.

John was in a similar situation as D'Argo, but there was one question he wanted to ask right now. He peered again past Aeryn, making sure it was indeed a new Prowler. "So, traded in your Prowler, huh?"

Aeryn nodded and shrugged. "I wasn't given much of a choice. The Peacekeepers took mine and left this one behind."

John was so not happy with that minimalist explanation. He was aware that the chances of them finding any Peacekeeper vessels in flying condition without any actual Peacekeepers around were slim to none, but this proved they had actually come in contact with Peacekeepers. "Peacekeepers?" he prompted.

Chiana giggled. "Where did you expect we'd get a new Prowler and a Marauder from?"

"I don't know, maybe the Peacekeepers had left it behind after the unit was killed or something?"

Aeryn shook her head. "John, you know Peacekeepers would never leave any equipment behind. If a unit doesn't survive a mission, another pilot is sent to retrieve the ships."

Both John and D'Argo heard something that sounded like the boarding ramp of a ship descending, followed by a hatch opening. They both readied their weapons and pointed it in the direction of the now-opened hatch of a previously invisible ship. Much to their surprise, they saw a very familiar red-haired woman getting out, supporting an apparently injured man.

D'Argo immediately realized where Chiana had gone to, and more importantly, why.

Jool apparently noticed they were pointing their guns at her. She smiled and rolled her eyes. "You two never change, do you?" She walked further down helping Hirsch maintain his balance. "I'd love to talk to you, but first I will need to take care of Hirsch."

John holstered his pulse pistol. "Hi, Jool. Sorry 'bout the gun pointin'. I'm workin' on it. Need any help?"

Jool nodded. "I could use help with getting Hirsch to the Medical Bay."

D'Argo looked at Chiana. "You went to Arnessk? You had to take care of a problem on Arnessk?"

Chiana glanced at Aeryn briefly before turning back to D'Argo. "Yeah, I did. I took care of a problem that happened to be at Arnessk right now."

D'Argo just had to ask, had to make certain. "Your problem or someone else's problem?"

Chiana took exception to his question. "I took care of my friend's problem. You remember what a friend is, D'Argo?"

John curiously looked at his two friends and back to Aeryn. He'd noticed Pip had glanced at Aeryn briefly before she had answered D'Argo's earlier question and John had a feeling that if he wanted to get to the bottom of this, she was the woman to talk to. Aeryn looked back at him calmly.

"John, I think you better go with Jool without me. I will stay here."

John looked questioningly at D'Argo and Chiana and then back to her. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave Aeryn, or Pip for that matter, alone with an obviously unhappy Luxan. Then again, maybe he should be worried about leaving an unhappy Luxan with two angry women, especially if one was a former Peacekeeper.

"Please, John. I will explain later."

Despite his doubts, he decided to trust her and follow Jool. Maybe he could get _her_ to answer some of his questions.

* * *

"You're kiddin', right?" John was barely able to believe what Jool told him.

Jool shook her head. "No, you, or rather the bioloid you, had found ancient human markings on the artifact. Further investigation revealed a link between our two races. And then later, after you had all left, we found evidence that implies Sebaceans are also linked."

Even though Jool had not said anything about why Aeryn and Chiana had gone to Arnessk or why D was so upset about it, he found this incredibly fascinating to hear. He needed some time to think about this all. John watched as Jool expertly treated the wounds on the male Interion who apparently went by the name of Hirsch, though John refused to believe that was his whole name.

He remembered Jool's real name was much longer and he suspected she had just picked up on this whole name-shortening thing while on Moya. Damn, they did not give him enough information! What's wrong with these people? He sighed and pushed this information at the back of his mind. "So, why did Aer and Pip go to Arnessk?"

Jool looked up at him for a brief moment. "I asked Chiana to come help take care of... a problem, and she brought Aeryn with her."

They were all avoiding the issue here. They all knew what it was about, except for him. "Jool, what problem? It's got something to do with me, doesn't it? I mean, you all seem to know about it, even D. Why's no one telling me?"

Jool sighed and looked up again. "Look, Crichton, I know you want answers, but I am not the one to give them to you. You need to ask Aeryn about that."

"He should."

John turned around at the sudden sound of Aeryn's voice. She looked unharmed so he grinned at her. "You're not letting Chiana carry D alone to the med-bay, are you?"

Aeryn snorted. "I didn't touch him."

John noticed the looks the two women exchanged and sighed again. "Could you just quit looking at each other? It's just an annoying reminder of the fact you know somethin' I don't. Somethin' I wanna know about."

Aeryn nodded. "Fine. We should go to our quarters and I will explain things to you."

"Alright, let's go to our quarters, then." He wrapped his arm around her midsection as they moved out of the Medical Bay.

Jool watched them leave with a fond smile on her face.

* * *

Upon arriving at their quarters, they had decided to lie on the bed. After some moving around to find a position that was comfortable for them both and still allowing them to look at each other they just lay still for a while, caressing each other and even kissing. After a while John decided to coax her into talking. "So, Arnessk?"

Aeryn sighed a little but then looked him in the eyes. "When the crew went there to meet up with Jool and D'Argo, the Peacekeepers arrived a little while later. Commandant Grayza was in command and seemingly had taken Scorpius' power away."

John thought a bit. "Grayza, that's Commandant Cleavage, right? The one I stupidly pointed a gun at?"

Aeryn nodded. "Mmm-hmm. This time she wanted to obtain the wormhole knowledge herself, probably to obtain more power for herself. She used Heppel Oil to interrogate you."

"Heppel Oil?"

"A substance which many believe to be a myth, but obviously it isn't. Heppel Oil affects your mind, increasing lust to such a level that you will do anything to have sex with the subject that applied it."

"So, Grayza had sex with a robot?"

Aeryn thought about that a little before a smile formed. "Hmm, I never thought about it like that."

"Well, you should've. I take it you and Pip went to Arnessk because Grayza showed up there and Jool informed you?"

Aeryn nodded. "John, the fact that it was the bioloid would not have changed our decision to go back and... deal with this thing. It _could_ have been you."

"Did you kill her?" Hoping she hadn't. Despite what Grayza had done, it would not have been a good-enough reason to kill her, in his opinion.

"No." Aeryn shook her head. "We took out her Heppel Oil gland, effectively taking away her main source of power and, more importantly, robbing her from many chances for recreation."

John saw there was more. She was keeping something from him, something she thought he wasn't going to agree with. "You did something else, too, didn't you? Please, Aeryn, tell me. I need to know."

Aeryn sighed, and cast her eyes away from his gaze. "We chased her into a cave with a number of Grizan males."

John needed more information, though a picture was starting to form in his mind. "And?"

"Grizans have an immense amount of libido and the males will take any female they can find. Grazya was the first one they'd met in several cycles. They... used her."

John could hear the satisfaction in her voice, making him understand she still stood by their actions on Arnessk. He sighed. "And why were you not happy with D'Argo's questions? For that matter, why was D not happy you had dealt with this?"

"Apparently, you had escaped Grayza at some point, but to get you all away from the Peacekeepers, D'Argo decided they would need a diversion. One part of it was to send you back to Grayza."

"What?" John couldn't believe it. "He didn't even consider another option?"

Aeryn shook her head. "No, though he claims there was no other option. But that was not the real reason for his anger. Apparently he had promised the bioloid he would take care of Grayza himself and could now no longer keep that promise."

John understood that. His friend had a huge sense of honor and if a promise could not be fulfilled the big guy would see that as dishonoring his friend. He sighed; there wasn't anything he could do to change what had happened and he certainly didn't want to think about Grayza's fate at this point. Aeryn looked intently at him and he could see the question that was trying to get asked.

"How did you find out the map was inaccurate?"

There it was. John sighed again. "Remember the orb that came rolling out of the neural cleanser room? When I showed you the house later that night, I found the orb and touched it. It unlocked the knowledge in my head and I could suddenly sense wormholes."

"So, we could go visit Earth for real now?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "Nah. It's possible for me to go there, but I'm not gonna. Way too dangerous." He could see she didn't understand it. "Let me tell you what happened here while you were dealing with Commandant Cleavage. It started when..."


End file.
